Great Ocean Road @ Victoria, Australia

While I was at Mctc's sister and bro-in-law's house, they gave me a stack of brochures. The first time I visited Melbourne in Aug 2002, I took the day tours. I went to Philip Island to see the little penguins, the Grampians National park and The Great Ocean Road. In these tours they also took us to see the koala bears and the kangaroos. I remembered they had some kind of promotion, where if I were to take 2 day tours, they would throw in a 1/2 day city tour for free. That time most say tours cost less that AUD100, and the city tour was priced at AUD45. After experiencing the city tour, I thought the price was too much. I could walk and reach most of the destinations for free. I might have to pay entrance fees to the Cook's cottage in the Fitzroy Gardens, but I could do without seeing the Cook's cottage.

On Monday, 2 days ago, while I had my own city tour (just grab hold of a city map and walk), I walked into the same tour company I went with the last time. I checked the prices... and thank God I went to all those places before. The price for Philip Island was AUD139 (the cheapest) per adult, Grampians - AUD144, and the Great Ocean Road - AUD147. The city tour was priced at AUD 68 for 3.5 hours.

Okay, I was like... been there, done that, save money this time, don't have to go and all, but I thought I shouldn't be so selfish. This was Mctc's first trip to Australia. I asked him if he wanted to go for any of the day tours. He took one look at the price and said he could do without the tours since he was here to visit his sister. Phew! He just wanted to see the city and the countryside.

We made plans with Christina, and she said she would bring us to the Great Ocean Road, and at the same time, see the countryside. She also planned to bring us to see some Australian animals, namely the kangaroos and koala bears.

We took a train from the city to Geelong, where Christina lived. She picked us up at about 10.30am, packed some lunch and headed down to the Great Ocean Road. It took us about 2 hours to reach our 1st destination, the 12 apostles.

The entrance to the 12 apostles.


I'm always way behind because I was too busy taking pictures.

The 12 apostles, now left with only 8 apostles. (Check out the video clip at the bottom of this post)

The wind was strong, the air was chilled, but we loved it.


People from all over the world visited this place.


The sound of waves and wind were very loud.

The 2 apostles which were further from the rest. I wonder what were their names...

We could just stand and admire God's creation. Our jackets were all zipped up to the top. Our hands were cold, but we too busy admiring the view.

All 8 apostles should be in the above pictures. I can only count 6 of them. The other 2 must have been blocked by the other apostles.

One last look before we went to our next destination.


A huge map showing where we were and what we could see.

We went to the "Thunder Cave" first. (Check out the video clip at the bottom of this post). We were just amazed at the sound the water made when it hit against the walls of the limestone. The gate was closed due to public risk.

We walked to the Sherbrook Estuary, located not far from the Thunder Cave.

This is interesting. Those waves that were stronger made their way over to a river. (Check out the video clip at the bottom of this post).

It's really scary. Even now as I type, I could imagine the strong current taking over a man's life. This made our beach in Malaysia -Port Dickson (PD), so mild, and even that, we heard of people drowning in PD before.

The angry waves. If we stood there longer, we would all be wet. That was how strong the wind and waves were.

Christina suggested to drive to a car park nearer to Loch Ard Gorge.

Something that everyone must see. We could go down to the beach. No swimming allowed of course. The current is to strong.

The limestone formation that made this place special. It's also a site for the tragic shipwreck of the "Loch Ard".

A panoramic view of the Loch Ard Gorge.


Going back up again..


View from the top...


View from the top..

We left the Loch Ard Gorge and head to our final destination - Port Campbell.


Saw a house on sale but...


... it was sold. Mctc said he wouldn't mind living here.


Beautiful waters at Port Campbell.


Yup... I wouldn't mind living here too.. :)


Birds everywhere at Port Campbell.

We left Port Campbell at 4.45pm. Mctc drove back to Christina's house. I took a nap on the way back. Mctc and Christina saw a young boy driving a tractor. I missed that.

1) 12 apostles
2) Thunder Cave
3) Sherbrook Estuary